How to Develop a Business Owner Mindset

Oftentimes, running a business online can seem super tough and really frustrating…

No matter how hard you work or how bold your goals are, you just keep feeling like you’re getting nowhere and simply wasting your time.

Maybe this happens to everybody… or does it?

Well… to tell you the truth, things don’t always need to be that way.

By modifying just a few things in how you approach what you find in your path and adopting a different mindset, you can change your business dramatically and set it in the right direction toward success.

In this episode, you’ll get to see which of those aspects you need to change are, you’ll learn to adopt a business owner mindset and you’ll understand why doing so will make your online business thrive.

What You’ll Learn

The biggest challenges all businesses face

The six aspects you need to consider changing in your approach

How to develop a business owner mindset

Why is adopting a mindset of a business owner so important to your business

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No matter how hard you work or how bold your goals are, you just keep feeling like you’re getting nowhere and simply wasting your time.

Maybe this happens to everybody… or does it?

Well… to tell you the truth, things don’t always need to be that way.

By modifying just a few things in how you approach what you find in your path and adopting a different mindset, you can change your business dramatically and set it in the right direction toward success.

In this episode, you’ll get to see which of those aspects you need to change are, you’ll learn to adopt a business owner mindset and you’ll understand why doing so will make your online business thrive.

Thanks for Listening

Before we start, though, I’d just like to take a quick moment to thank you!

Podcasting may seem like a very lonely activity at first glance — just a person behind a mic in an empty and quiet room — but when you think about it, I’m actually not alone, far from it. I’m talking to you and to a whole lot more people from all corners of the world and that feels awesome!

So… “hi again” everybody and “thank you” for listening to the OBFM podcast!

If this is your first time listening and you want to get a full list of the published episodes so far, please visit our website at www.onlinebusiness.fm where you can also see on which podcasting directories or apps you can find us and subscribe to our show.

Time to get started then! Let’s go people!

Starting a Business Is Easy

With the amount of knowledge (freely or cheaply) available just about anywhere, it is very easy these days for anyone to start a business. Even more so if it’s an online business.

Like we saw in a previous series of episodes about the top passive-income online businesses (sessions 4 to 8), even a small niche or affiliate website is an online business.

As such, if you’re running one or any other type of business online, guess what?!
You’re a business owner!!

Biggest Challenges Businesses Face

Now here’s the thing…

There are countless challenges in the business world that stop lots of people and their businesses from moving forward. The vast majority of them (about 80%) pertain to psychological or inner conflicts.

Yes. Our own mind, mindset, the way we usually approach what shows up along our journey is determining in the way we manage both our personal and professional activities.

To be more specific, creating any kind of business requires more than just business know-how, a course, a product or a service to sell or a website to monetize.

It requires something even more important than all of that.

First and foremost, it requires a proper business mindset; it requires the so-called “business owner mindset”.

Let Me Tell You a Story

Let me illustrate this with a personal story.

When I lost my job back in 2011 and decided to start working online full-time, I was looking for a way to make a living doing something that I loved and made me feel accomplished and happy, something that got me out of bed every day with a smile on my face, feeling excited and energetic about what I needed to get done for the day.

Maybe you can relate…?

Back then, what I was looking for, most of all, was something that could replace my income (and, why not, maybe potentially even increase it).

But what I really wanted was… freedom, both as money is related as well as time. And I wanted control, I wanted to be able to decide what to do with my life on my own terms.

To put it simply, I wanted to be my own boss.

My Ultimate Dream

Little by little, while I was working to get all of that, I began to get drawn by the amazing feats other people in this space were achieving.

They were building great businesses, brands and websites; they were publishing amazing and valuable content and, at the same time, they had freedom of time and money, they could go on vacation any time and to anywhere they desired or take a day off whenever they wished.

They had everything figured out and running smoothly, well-oiled machines which allowed them to work less, stress less and worry less. They were making good money and living a wonderful life.

Most importantly, they were genuinely helping their customers, teaching their audiences and readers, creating a legacy, making this a better web and, ultimately, a nicer world.

I got that mouth-watering feeling and realized that this was exactly what I was dreaming of, what I had always been dreaming of.

Putting it simply, I now wanted to be a business owner.

«I’ll just work harder and longer!» — I thought — «I’ll work more hours, I’ll better organize my tasks, set clearer deadlines, come up with better goals and I’ll do it.»

It seemed like a good plan of action, right?!

Except… it wasn’t.

No matter how hard I tried or how long I worked I just couldn’t get there, I just couldn’t get closer to where I wanted to be.

Mindset & Goals Mismatch

Why wasn’t I getting anywhere close to achieving all of that and fulfilling my dream?

Well, the truth is…

I was still working like I did when I was my own boss but, now, I had different goals.I was aiming to achieve business owner goals with a “be my own boss” mindset.

Simply put, my mindset didn’t match my goals.

I was doing the same things I did before over and over again and expecting different results. And, you know what? That’s basically Einstein’s definition of insanity.

Every step I took wasn’t helping me move forward. Quite the opposite. In fact, it was making it harder, tiresome and demotivating.

The solution?

In order to fulfil my dreams, I needed a paradigm shift, I needed to develop a different mindset. One that would perfectly align with my new goals. I needed a mindset of a business owner to match my new business owner goals.

So if you would ask me:«Why should I ever consider developing a different mindset?» — a business owner mindset, in this case.

The answer is:

Anything you want in life, be it passive income, flexible schedules, working smarter not harder, doing less and making more, whatever your goals and dreams may be, all of these things… they can be achieved….

But… only if you are willing to change your habits, how you approach problems and find solutions… in a sentence: only if you are willing to change your mindset.

How to Develop a Mindset of a Business Owner

And how do you change your mindset?

Well, my friend, you just have to start thinking differently and approach situations in a different way than what you were used to when you were just working for yourself.

Now, if you are still working for yourself, there’s nothing wrong with that. That might even be your only option especially while you’re just starting out in the online business world. And if you want to keep it like so, there’s nothing wrong with that either.

Nonetheless, I believe that all of what I am about to talk about next will benefit anyone, whether you are still your own boss and prefer to keep it like that, already are a business owner or want to become one to take your digital venture to new heights.

Is it clear enough? Cool. Let’s move on, then!

Stop Coming Up With Lame Excuses

The first thing you need to do in your transition to a business owner mindset relates to your thoughts and beliefs.

Stop saying you “can’t do thing A or thing B”; stop saying you “don’t know enough of C” or that you are “bad at D” and “hate E” or simply that you “can’t do anything because you procrastinate too much” or that “it isn’t perfect enough yet”.

And never repeat to yourself that “you’re not competent enough because you’ve failed in the past” or that “others are just better than you”.

These are mere excuses so, to put it bluntly:Stop coming up with these lame excuses!

Understand that every excuse you make is nothing more nothing less than yet another roadblock you’re putting in your way that’s going to stop you and your business from moving forward.

Let’s get a few things straight:

You can do anything you decide to do.

Successful people aren’t better than you or me.

Perfection is just another form of procrastination.

I’ll explain all of the above next:

You Can Do Anything

You can do anything you set your mind to as long as you commit to it and really dedicate time and effort to achieving or getting better at whatever it is you’re trying to achieve or get better at.

If you feel you don’t know enough or that you lack experience at doing something, then be willing to learn and practice on a consistent basis.

I don’t know about you but, to me, learning is probably the most important investment in one’s self and in one’s future there is.

Let go of laziness or fear of learning — if that’s how you feel about learning — and focus on the awesome outcome that comes from it.

Sure, I know everything seems overwhelming and there’s simply too much information to take in when you’re just getting started learning a new skill. No doubt — I’ve been there multiple times.

Nevertheless, bit by bit, slowly but surely, it will all make sense and feel much easier (quicker than you think) the sooner you start, the more you practice and the more you get used to it.

Successful Aren’t Superhuman Beings

Successful people are just like you or me.

They certainly aren’t superhuman beings with superpowers as they undoubtedly have their own weaknesses… and I’m not referring to kryptonite or anything of the sort.

They too have failed many times before and learned their lessons, they too have struggled (and still do) to get to where they are now and to become who they are today.

The main difference is that they have created good, success-inducing habits and changed their mindsets.

Perfection Is Just Another Form of Procrastination

Perfection is a waste of time.

Don’t be fooled:

Trying to do everything perfect is just another form of procrastination. It is nothing more than a huge time suck.

Think about it.

Which of these is more important to you… ship the thing or to keep delaying it until it’s 100% perfect?…I’m sure you know the answer.

The Funny Perfection Paradox

Now that we’re talking about it… there’s actually a funny thing about aiming for perfection.

People – especially newbies – often want to launch their products, websites or businesses only when they’re just perfect.

However, at the same time, you can only get closer to perfection when you’re more knowledgeable and experienced.

If you’re just starting out, how can you be more knowledgeable and experienced if you haven’t really started yet? See the paradox here?

All in all, stop making excuses and start working now by committing to give your best at all times.

And, like I’ve been saying repeatedly throughout this podcast, welcome mistakes and failures, they carry important lessons within themselves that will make you grow and improve yourself.

Acknowledge You Have Full Control

Another important change you need to make in your path to developing a business owner mindset is that, as a business owner, you need to acknowledge that you have full control over the fate of your business or company.

That being said, you can’t just wait for things to happen – time wasted is money lost.

You need to be proactive by anticipating what your business will need and make it happen.

That means you need to make the crucial decisions that will push your business forward and such decisions, oftentimes, need to be made right on the stop to get things moving.

Knowing that you are the number one decision-maker in your business also translates to having full control over your business’ policies, values, strategies, investment and your staff.

You have the power to decide your business’ fate and to solve problems as they happen.

Change Your Mind about Hiring or Outsourcing

The third thing you need to bear in mind is the way how work is managed in your business.

Especially when you’re just starting out with your online business, you’ll probably have to take care of most of the work yourself.

You’re kind of a combo:Your own boss and the employee all packed in one and working together simultaneously.

As we’ve seen, you will need to make super important decisions to move your business forward and keep it on the right path. (That’s your boss-self.)

And you’ll need to get down and dirty and do the work yourself — which might be your only option when, I’ll repeat myself, you’re taking your first steps with your business online. (And that’s your worker-self.)

(Sometimes your boss-self and your worker-self won’t agree or be too happy about each other, but that’s a whole different episode or you can go and learn more about it if you read a book titled How to Be a Productivity Ninja by Graham Allcott. [Affiliate Disclaimer: This is an affiliate link, which means I earn a commission — at no extra cost to you — if you end up purchasing this product through this link.])

When you decide to move from being your own boss to being a business owner, if you do want to grow and build a successful business, you’ll need to adopt the mindset of a business owner we’ve been talking about today.

If you don’t, you’ll only go so far and may even risk burning yourself out.

This essentially means acknowledging that a business owner doesn’t do all of the work and, most importantly, changing your mind about hiring or outsourcing.

It’s a shift from thinking “how can I do this?” and “where do I find time to take this new opportunity” to “who can do this for me?” and “who’s better than me to work on this stuff?”.

The fact is:

When you do all of the work, you’ll irremediably be drown in it and get stuck doing it.

In such a state of “drowningness” and “stuckness” (these are just made-up words, by the way), you’re bound to lose the clarity, freshness and perspective you need to make the high-level decisions you have to make to take your business to the next level.

So you should really consider hiring help, be it building your own team for longer-term projects or outsourcing for one-off projects.

Now, trust me, I know what I’m talking about here:

Being able to say “this is all my doing, I’m the sole responsible for the success of my business” is something that makes anyone feel super accomplished as it relates to one’s self pride.

Plus, I get it:
It’s difficult to pay someone else to do something you know you could perfectly do yourself.

And, I feel you:
It’s complicated to trust others to take care of your “baby” for you.

But you definitely need to learn to let go and hire help… if you’re definitely interested in finding the headspace and the time to be able to take your business to new heights and come closer to fulfilling your dreams… if you’re definitely interested in going above and beyond with your business and changing the way your business helps your customers and brings added value to your niche.

You might end up feeling surprised the moment you find great people that can do your tasks better and faster than you, the moment you realize that your business has become better and more capable than it ever was when you were alone working in it.

You’ll stress less, feel less overwhelmed and get more free time for yourself or to focus on more important parts of your business like business development, improving your business model and strategy and planning ahead.

You’ll be basically buying time and peace of mind back.

If you’re still on the fence, start small and just give it a try.

The more you do it, the more you’ll like it and feel totally in control like a real business owner who gets to call all the shots. Most people never look back once they’ve tried it and they totally get their money’s worth.

Incidentally, I’ve published an article on how to know when to outsource on my blog. Check the show notes pages for this episode at onlinebusiness.fm/11 and you’ll find the link to that blog post.

Start Planning Ahead

As we just saw, doing everything by yourself gets you so entangled in your daily tasks that you lose sight and perspective on the bigger picture of things.

You’re working in your business as opposed to be working on your business which will eventually burn you out and make your business hit the dreaded plateau.

This fourth part of your transition to a mindset of a business owner dictates that you need to think about the future and plan ahead.

Not just what you’re going to do today or next week, but further along in the calendar like 3, 6 or even 12 months from now.

If you want to build a thriving business (and I’m sure you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be listening to my charming and smooth little voice) you have to take a step back, zoom out from your daily or weekly to-do list and take a good look into the future.

Now is the right time to get one of those big 12-month calendars or planners that you can put on your desk, hold in your hands or put up on your office wall and note down or color important upcoming events or special dates that you need to plan in advance.

In one quick snapshot of the entire year, you’ll literally visualize what’s going on, what’s coming up next and you will be fit to plan your work and projects with a much broader perspective and clarity.

Besides, you’ll get the added benefit of being able to focus more easily on your daily tasks because you’ll have a totally clear picture of what will be happening next and you can prepare stuff (like content publishing and marketing campaigns) in a more logical sequence for your business, readers or followers.

With this kind of future planning, you can do plenty of the work ahead of time, gain more clarity and assurance and you can make easier, faster and better decisions allowing your business to grow and keep rolling without interruptions regardless of what happens in your life or in other aspects of your business.

To sum it up:You need to think about the future and plan ahead to keep your business running smoothly and growing steadily.

Keep Track of the Most Important Metrics

Let’s move on to the fifth aspect concerning which you need to change your thinking.

A business owner needs to keep track of his or her metrics (like web traffic, list subscribers, income, profit and, especially, time).

Tracking is fundamental in order to learn how your business is growing and evolving, understand what needs to be adjusted and decide which actions to take, what to keep doing or simply stop doing.

As far as most of these metrics are concerned, you can be down now and go up later. You can lose money today and make it back tomorrow; you can see your web traffic and list subscriber count decrease this month and see those numbers go back up the following month.

Time, however, is the only one of your assets that cannot be recovered. Ever.

It’s just like what Robert Kiyosaki’s rich dad used to say:«I can always make another dollar, but I cannot make another day.»

Once time is gone, it’s gone forever.

One of the ways to make the most of your time is to make use of Pareto’s Principle.

Try figuring out which 20 percent of things you do on your business get you 80% of your results. Once you do, focus on those 20% of actions even more going forward. And/or take a different approach in regards to the other 80% of things to see if you can actually make them work.

Tracking your metrics and reviewing your 80-20 ratio should be done on a frequent basis as it is a great routine to keep your business moving in the right direction and make the best of your time.

Learn the Distinction between Income and Profit

Finally, the sixth thing I have for you today that I believe you need to be aware of in your development of a business owner mindset is learning the distinction between income and profit.

Your income is something very different from your business profit.

Income or salary is how much you make for the amount of time you work.

Profit is the money your business makes after all expenses (including yours and your staff’s time) are accounted for.

On the one hand, when you’re your own boss, your main aim is to get paid for the amount of time you work.

The growth potential of how much you can make (in other words, your income) is limited by the number of hours there is in a day (and. let’s not forget, you’re a human being, not a machine, after all). That’s the so-called time-for-money trap.

On the other hand, when you’re a business owner, your salary will come from your business’ profit and, therefore, how much you pay yourself is not even comparable. The growth potential here is much higher.

To determine how much your business is generating, you need to ask yourself “how much of what I’m getting from selling my products or services is profit?” and “how much of the revenue is just paying for mine or my staff’s time?”.

Creating profit demands optimizing effectiveness and efficiency which takes us back to outsourcing specific tasks or building a team that handles a great deal of the work, keeping track of the most important metrics and planning ahead.

It’s true that you’ll be investing more on outsourcing or on your own team, but you’ll also be growing your business, doing less work yourself and making more money.

That’s, basically, how you up the value you provide, scale your business and increase your salary and your business profit.

This distinction between being your own boss and a business owner, between income and profit needs to be very clear in your mind at all times.

Otherwise, you might feel tempted to try and grow both your salary and your profit at the same time which will eventually lead you to making wrong decisions where the focus is on serving yourself rather than serving your business and its customers.

Conclusion

That’s it! This concludes our episode here.

We’ve talked about some of the aspects you need to be aware of and change in your mind in order to move from a “working for yourself” / “being your own boss” thinking into a mindset of a business owner.

Is there even more stuff you should consider modifying in the way you see and approach your professional projects?

Certainly.

But the biggest lesson to take from today’s session is that you’re no longer just working for yourself, you have a business to take care of now.

It’s a whole lot more responsibility to take on, but a lot more fun at the same time.

As a business owner you’ll be acting as the top manager or CEO, making all the most important decisions, choosing which pieces to move around the chessboard, moving your projects forward.

This is how you make your business evolve and assure a sustainable growth

Now… don’t go thinking that I have fully developed this kind of mindset already. I’m going to say it again: I’m just one of you, I’m still learning and will need to keep learning each and every day of my life.

Furthermore, these are not just things that you learn once and bam!, they’re ingrained in your mind forever, no.

You need to learn them once, twice, thrice… as many times as you need and continuously practice them now, tomorrow and days, weeks, months and years from now.

That’s how you develop new habits, that’s how you change your way of thinking, that’s how you adopt a different mindset. It’s an evergoing work in progress.

Join Us Next Time

All right… this is it! I hope to have you on that side again in the next episode of the OBFM podcast!

All Links & Resources

Head on over to onlinebusiness.fm/11 to get the show notes, the episode’s transcription and everything that was mentioned in this session.

Thank You

Thank you again very much for listening!

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See You Soon

See you next time!

From Lisbon, Portugal to the World, this is Louie Luc and I’m signing off!